Menu Math

Got a stack of take-out menus sitting in a drawer in your kitchen? Pull them out for this game of "restaurant."  While talking about sweet and savory foods, you and your second grader can reinforce real-world applications of counting and using money.  You'll also be building success in school: in second grade, money is a very common math topic.

What You Need:

• Take-out menus

• Bills and coins

• Silverware tray (to be used as a cash register tray to keep money sorted)

• White out

• Paper

• Pencils

What You Do:

1. Look over a few take-out menus to check their prices. Since the prices on most take-out menus are higher than the amounts being counted in second grade, you may wish to make adjustments to the prices by whiting them out and filling in new prices.
2. Tell your child that you will take turns “playing restaurant”, switching off roles of being the customer and the server. You and your child may wish to decide upon different names for yourselves during the role play.
3. You should start out in the role of server, so you can model the procedure first for your child.
4. Make sure your child has ample money to pay for items on the menu. Maybe she should even make a trip to the "bank" before going out on the town. When the "customer" arrives, she should be seated at the table and you should take down her order on a notepad.
5. Total the items on the notepad for your child to see, state the price, and give your child the check. Make change if necessary (no tip required!).
6. You can repeat this game as many times as you want, switching roles each time. Use a different menu to keep things fresh, or have your child create her own menu.  Bon appetit!

While this activity provides great math practice, it's also a good hands-on social studies lesson.  When they play this game with you, kids are learning how shops work, and they are preparing to do the same steps they've watched you master any time they go to a store.  Not bad learning for an hour-long game!